Rockhampton drag queen Leisha Luck performs at So Phresh
Drag queen Leisha Luck has been performing for 10 years and recently did her first show in Rockhampton, which was a sell out, after moving to the Beef Capital 12 months ago. See how queer events are being revived in the region.
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Mental preparation and a Vodka Red Bull for a bit of energy is how Rockhampton-based drag queen Leisha Luck says she starts her night before hitting the stage and leaving her audience in stitches.
There is also some shaving involved, makeup and booking an Uber in hopes to get to the gig on time.
Leisha Luck has been doing drag for 10 years, starting her career in Sydney at about 19 years old.
“I did it for a party and then it kind of just escalated from there to going and joining the girls on the Mardi Gras floats to then running my own shows,” she said.
“I haven’t gotten away from it, it’s been addictive.”
She said her name came from a woman she worked with in banking in New South Wales.
“Her name was Aleisha Luck and she had basically hit rock bottom,” she said.
“I saw her as the strongest woman. She basically built herself up from nothing.
“I asked if I could have her name and she said yes.”
She said she started doing drag for “a bit of self expression”.
“I never planned on working in a numbers job ever and I have always been a creative kid,” she said.
“It’s just my outlet and I like to entertain.
“I am more of a comedy queen. I like to make people laugh.”
Leisha Luck, known as Will Brown out of drag, grew up in Nowra in New South Wales.
She said she had a really supportive family when she came out as gay at 16 years old.
“It’s interesting, when I go to gigs where I have young queer people coming up to me and telling me their trials and tribulations and asking how it was for me when I didn’t really face much hardship,” she said.
“The most you can say is it is going to get better.”
She said before the COVID-19 pandemic she was meant to move to London, with plans to apply for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
“You have to live there in order to get onto the show,” she said.
“I was in the process of moving but couldn’t get over there.”
She said she would consider applying for RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under in the future.
“I need to get a bit more under my belt in terms of outfits and repertoires but that is one thing I would consider doing in the near future,” she said.
Leisha Luck moved to Rockhampton 12 months ago and performed her first gig in the Beef Capital on May 28 called So Phresh at the Red Lion Hotel.
“It was amazing,” she said.
“Tickets were completely sold out in a couple of weeks.
“The audience reaction was fantastic, it was great to see the queer community coming together.”
She will also be performing at Rainbow on the Reef’s pride festival fair day on Saturday, which she said she was excited for.
“I will be co-hosting with Wanda D’parke who I have heard is quite funny, so I am excited to have a bit of banter with her on stage and perform,” she said.
“It should be good.”
She said she wanted to see more a “safe space” in Rockhampton.
“There is quite a large queer population here that need somewhere to go,” she said.
“It would be good to see if other venues could get on board and just house us for once a month.
“And to those out there that have been asking for these types of events to happen, go and support them. If you don’t support them, they don’t happen.
“We need to celebrate more in regional towns.”
Founder of Whats’ Phresh Mitchel Luxford said Phresh events started from an idea of missing out on queer events around the Central Queensland region.
“I just realised we were missing out on a queer friendly space,” they said.
Mitchel, who identifies as a non-binary gay person, said Whats’ Phresh officially took off around August 2021, with its first event, So Phresh, on May 28 at the Red Lion Hotel.
“It was a sell out event two weeks prior,” they said.
“We had a few local drag queens, including Leisha Luck, put on a show for Rockhampton.
“It was incredible.
“All the feedback has been nothing but positive.
“There are a few different things we want to change to make it better. The biggest thing I saw is this is something people are needing.
“They need a safe space so they can go out without fear or judgment and be their authentic self.”
They said the idea for Whats’ Phresh came from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“Growing up in Blackwater and knowing who I was at a young age, it made me realise how much of my history wasn’t available to anyone if it wasn’t taught in a classroom,” they said.
“I was watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and seeing the education of queer history and what we’ve gone through and where we are now, it made me think what do people in Australia have? What do people in small country towns have?
“They don’t have those storytellers or a place to go find that queer history and people get scared about asking those questions.
“I thought why not create a space where people can ask those questions and not be judged about not knowing.
“That’s why I started these events.”
Mitchel said there were plans for more Phresh events in Rockhampton.
“We are already in talks of planning our next one and we are hopefully going to be planning a Halloween Ball,” they said.
“We are offering something different and it’s not going to be something that will continue to stay stagnant.
“I am thinking of not just doing drag nights, but also a pride festival and a fair day again and social events that aren’t based around alcohol for those that don’t drink and aren’t comfortable in those environments.
“Follow us on our socials at Whats’ Phresh to keep up to date and we will show you what’s coming soon.”
Rockhampton Clubrok has thrown its support behind Phresh events while commenting on the current status of the LGBTQIA+ group.
Secretary Alan Flood said Clubrok, which held monthly events at Flamingo’s On Quay, had been “idle” since December 2017.
“That’s when Flamingo’s On Quay closed its doors and left us without a home,” Alan said.
“It happened rather quickly.
“At that time we sort of had no plans to restart.
“Clubrok has been inactive since and we don’t really have an active committee at the moment. Most of the previous members have either moved on or stepped down.”
Alan said there was certainly a need for queer events in the community.
“What Mitchel is doing is establishing a local scene again which is good,” Alan said.
“I think moving forward it’s just the case of whether we morph Clubrok into So Phresh to take it forward. It’s still early days and we haven’t made any official decisions.
“I think for some of us older members, we have done our time.
“It’s nice to sit back and let some new energy come in and get it going again.
“We support So Phresh and look forward to going to future events.”
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